
Keywords
Categories
Quick Links
Black Religion
The Black Education Free Encyclopaedia

Black Religion has always been a focal element in the long and tortured history of black people around the world. Black Religion is simply meant to connote the religious orientations and arrangements of people of African descent across the globe. It is important to centralise black religious thought and recognise the various dimensions, aesthetics, considerations and qualities of Black Religion found in various parts of the world including, the Americas, the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe.
Author/s: The Black Education Editorial Team
This page requires content from various sources. If you are interested in providing content for this page please submit your request here.
Affiliate Links
This page contains reader supported affiliate links where we may receive an affiliate commission should readers purchase these products or services. This keeps our website free and pays for our expenses.
Jurisdiction
Both the content provider and us have a legal responsibility for all content to adhere to applicable laws in the United Kingdom governing jurisdiction or any other applicable laws or jurisdictions. It is important for users to exercise caution when posting content in light of this responsibility for your protection and ours.
Legal Standing
The content we host is for informational purposes only. It does not provide any expert advice for any particular matter such as medical, legal or financial; for such matters the help of a licensed or qualified professional should be sought.
For the protection of users and us, content that may result in criminal or civil liability under any applicable laws in the United Kingdom or other jurisdictions should be avoided for contribution. Black Education CIC does not offer any legal protection, indemnification or immunity for content contributors or other user.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is an offence and a form of fraud. If any of our content is used in a commercial manner or used without credits for any other purpose, the appropriate legal action will be sought to the full extent of the law. Contributors also have a legal obligation to ensure content produced is that of their own work and provide the appropriate credit when including or making reference to third party content.
Licensing, Copyright and Content Re-use
Freedoms are given to reuse the information and content on our platforms for educational purposes only and not for commercial use. It is important for users to acknowledge and respect any present copyrights or trademarks when applicable. Any re-use of information should be referenced and credits given. All content providers and users are expected to agree to the free use of information on this basis and to which any content provider holds the copyright, agree to further license its use under: Creative Commons Attribution- ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (“CC BY-SA”), and GNU Free Documentation License (“GFDL”) (unversioned, with no invariant sections, front-cover texts, or back-cover texts). Re-users may comply with either license.
Content, Contributors and Users
Our platform content is collaboratively edited by our content providers and our editors. We do not endorse or represent any opinions expressed in any of the content. Our editor’s role is merely to ensure that information is formatted appropriately and moderated accordingly for credibility and fairness. Our community of users provide content and this is how the much of information we host is produced. It is users that help us to fulfil our mission. Essentially, it is the community that preserves our platform. Everyone is welcome to join as a contributor or user but the policies listed here need to be followed. By continuing the use of this site you are agreeing to these terms.
Read more on our terms of use.
1. What Is Black Religion?
There are various 20th century ideologies which have formed the modern Black Religious quest for human fulfilment, self-actualisation and equity within the Black community. Some of these are explored below, but Black Religion has always been a focal element in the long and tortured history of Black people around the world. Black Religion is simply meant to connote the religious orientations and arrangements of people of African descent across the globe.
2. The Black Church and Christianity
The black church often represented the cultural, social, and political womb of the black community. Historically, the black church has been a place of fellowship and solidarity. It had a particular significance during slavery when this was the only time slaves could really console each other or exult. W. E. B. Du Bois is the founding figure of the sociological study of the Black Church. W.E.B. Du Bois and the Sociological Study of the Black Church and Religion, 1897–1914 showcases classic studies on the Black Church and Black Religion. Bois evaluation of the six functions of Philadelphia’s Black Church in book ‘The Philadelphia Negro’ (1899) represented an early example of a “functional analysis” of a religious group. His book, ‘In The Negro Church’ (1903), he integrated the findings from religious census data, denominational statistics, small area surveys, ethnographic fieldwork, and historical studies to paint a picture of the vibrant role the Black Church played in the African American community. Du Bois examines the Black Church in three of the essays included in book, The Souls of Black Folk (1903), other sociological essays and several Atlanta University Conference annual reports.
Many of those in the black church would label themselves as ‘Christians’. Some say Christianity is a white man’s religion. It is true that there is a long and ugly history of abuse of African-Americans at the hands of Anglo Christians. Afrocentric interpretations of history often point to slavery and lynching as proof that Christianity is inherently anti-black. Authors, Craig Keener and Glen Usry contend that Christianity can be Afrocentric. Through studies they found that racism is not unique to Christianity. They explained that the “world history is also our history and the Bible is also our book.” Their book ‘Black Man’s Religion’ is one of the first of its kind, a pro-Christian reading of religion and history from a black perspective.
3. Black Religion Socio-Politics and Theology
Academics have given a great deal of attention to the socio-political and theological importance of Black Religion. James H. Cone, Father of Black liberation theology, maintained the idea that Christianity and racism are antitheses and cannot coexist. Cone argued that one cannot be a genuine Christian and be anti-black, nor can one be a true follower of the God of justice and love, while remaining silent in the face of oppression and injustice toward black and brown people. Cone declared that “God was Black” because God has deliberately chosen to be on the side of the poor and the oppressed, which included the African American people who are historical victims of white oppression, violence, and white injustice. Cone believed that in order for Christianity to be a truly abundant faith for the black and brown people, it must be the antagonist of whiteness and dissociate itself from white supremacy and privileges. Cone argued that white churches must reject the racist structures that are inherent to the birth and practices of white Christianity.
Cone also maintained the view that theological thinking is rooted in the theologian values, attitude and imagination of a world view. Biblical theology never separates theology from ethics, the human experiences response to God and nature; these are intermingled in the biblical idea of good religion and complete theological truth. While we must always pursue theological truths that are rooted in God’s revelation to humanity, we should not undermine the setting and human environment in which God communicated his will, plan, and message for humanity. Cone believed that God always speaks in the context of the human experience and the culture of the people who are the recipients of his gracious revelation: the poor of Yahweh. God is not absent in any culture in the world. God has indeed spoken to black people within the parameters of their own culture. Many believe Black Religion and faith in God is what saved Black people from Slavery.
4. The Burden Of Black Religion
The book, ‘The Burden of Black Religion’ by Curtis Evans traces ideas about African American religion from the antebellum period to the middle of the twentieth century. Evans argues for a deep-rooted notion that blacks were somehow “naturally” religious. That this assumed natural impulse toward religion served as a common trait of black people’s humanity.
Many might agree with Evans evaluation of black people and religion. But, as the world has begun to value science, probability, reasoning and rationality over religion, the idea of a distinctive black religiousness is sometimes used to justify the inequalities for many blacks in the current world.
Some might argue religion is what sets black people back from opportunity. While slavery abolitionists would probably argue that black religion is what gave black people the capacity for finding freedom. Social scientists, both black and white, have sought to find that in actuality black people can and have incorporated themselves into white or western culture just fine, even while practicing religion. The findings have changed the narratives surrounding black religion to form a more modernistic and multiracial rhetoric.
5. Politics and Black Religion
There is a connection between black religious ideas and political activism. Black religion and black political thought are closely aligned. There are many religious ideas and practices from across the African diaspora that give rise to the political tradition now known as ‘Black Nationalism‘. While the tradition is often imagined to be secular or even anti-religious, it emboldens deep religious roots. It is a becoming from the black struggles over centuries, a collaboration to create a new nation, a new people from slave rebellions to the Black Power revolutionist to our contemporary Black Lives Matter movement. Black Nationalism is the from the emergence of Black Religion.
6. Progressive Black Religion
The growth of black journals continues, where scholars explore the subject of black family history and genealogy. More studies are looking at the history of particular black families and their history, or a particular group of black people, i.e. the Maroons. More funding is becoming available for this type of research to be able to exhibit and teach more about the contributions of black historical figures and their backgrounds. More research needs to be done across the board on black families in the diaspora and the origins of black families on the continent of Africa.
8. References
This page requires content from various sources. If you are interested in providing content for this page please submit your request here.
This page was last updated on 07, January, 2022
Black Religion Books
- Blacks and Religion Volume One: What did Africa contribute to the Origin of Religion?
- Blacks and Religion Volume Two: What did Black People contribute to the Origin and Evolution of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, the Indian Religions, and the New Religious Movements?
- Black Religion and Black Radicalism: Interpretation of the Religious History of Black Americans
- Black Transhuman Liberation Theology: Technology and Spirituality
- Faith in Black Power: Religion, Race, and Resistance in Cairo, Illinois
- Your Spirits Walk Beside Us: The Politics of Black Religion
- Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota
The Church & Family

- Black Religion can be described as a religious quest for human fulfilment, self-actualisation and equity within the Black community
- Family was always the main influencer of religion.
- Church was a good foundation for fellowship.